The Wandering Hearts
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The Wandering Hearts are a British Americana band, formed in London in 2015. The band were founded by Tara Wilcox and Tim Prottey-Jones, after meeting at a gig they were separately performing at. Mutual friends introduced them to AJ Dean-Revington and Francesca “Chess” Whiffin and the band was formed.
Initially calling themselves the Paper hearts, they recorded two demos titled: Today Is Ours and Sunshine. Both were uploaded to SoundCloud and within half an hour, were contacted by Steve Milbourne (former Sony Music creative director who worked on campaigns for Mark Ronson, Michael Jackson and AC/DC among others) of Major Influence with an offer of management. Within a few weeks, they auditioned for Decca Records who signed them on the spot. The group, now renamed to The Wandering Hearts, released their debut single Wish I Could in early 2017, and performed at numerous festivals around the UK including BST Hyde Park, opening for Tom Petty & Stevie Nicks.
Later in 2017, the band supported legendary Marty Stuart & his Fabulous Superlatives on his UK tour, who was so impressed when watching them during a soundcheck that he invited them to join him and his band in the US the following year.
In early 2018 The Wandering Hearts picked up the coveted ‘Bob Harris Emerging Artist’ award at the UK Americana Awards – a prize hand-picked by the music legend himself. The awards ceremony took place at Hackney Empire in London where they collected their prize in front of a sold-out audience, including Chris Difford, BBC DJ Simon Mayo, and Sir Patrick Stewart. The band performed a firm favourite ‘Burning Bridges’ as well as joining together with Imelda May, Mumford and Sons and Robert Plant for a rendition of the late Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers’.
February 2018 saw the band's debut album 'Wild Silence' achieve the number 1 spot on the UK Official Country Albums Chart.
The summer of 2018 saw the band at a number of UK festivals including Country 2 Country (C2C) festival at the O2, London and BBC Music's Biggest Weekend.
They then flew out to Nashville to join Marty Stuart at three shows. Those shows turned out to be the band's debut at the fabled Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on a bill that also included Margo Price, John Prine and Chris Stapleton. And then at the equally hallowed Grand Ole Opry a few days later, making them the first UK band to debut at Music City’s two most historic venues in the same week. They were reunited a week later to play at another historic place of music: Graceland. Stuart’s own concert at the former home of Elvis Presley saw him joined by a revered, surviving musician of the Sun Records era, W.S. ‘Fluke’ Holland. The drummer played on Carl Perkins’ original ‘Blue Suede Shoes,’ on the legendary ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ sessions that took place at Sun Studios in Memphis in December 1956 with Perkins, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash. He was also a member of Cash’s Tennessee Three.
On their return to the UK, the band played the first ever Black Deer Fest, followed by returning to to BST at Hyde Park where they opened for Eric Clapton. Later they played BBC Proms in the Park opening for Gladys Knight.
The band then embarked on a sell-out UK tour with support from Ruston Kelly, who has written songs for artists like Tim McGraw and Josh Abbott Band.
At the end of 2018, the band parted ways with Tim Prottey-Jones, continuing as a three-piece.
In 2019, the band went from strength to strength, returning to C2C festival, this time on the Spotlight stage in the main arena. They were then invited to perform live on BBC Breakfast and to join Ward Thomas on their UK tour. They returned to Nashville for Americana festival and were invited to play once again at the Grand Ole Opry. On their triumphant return to the UK, they went on to support Jack Savoretti on his UK tour as well as returning to Black Deer Fest as one of their "Deerly Beloved" acts. The band then supported Lukas Nelson (son of Willie Nelson) at Shepherds Bush Empire and shortly after this, returned to Hyde Park, this time on the main stage opening for Celine Dion.
In 2020, The Wandering Hearts headed deep into the Catskills, Woodstock where producers Simone Felice and David Baron hosted experimental and spiritual sessions in a studio packed with vintage instruments to record their self titled album. The album echoes the timeless songcraft of Fleetwood Mac and Simon & Garfunkel with the pure passion of Jade Bird and The Lumineers. It’s a record that celebrates life, new beginnings, and striving to shine through a darkening world.
The band were due to support Larkin Poe on their tour but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this tour was cancelled and they had to return to the UK. 2020 saw the band perform virtually at AmericanaFest UK, Philadelphia Folk Festival’s Cabin Fever Fest and SXSW.
In 2021, the band were signed to new label Cooking Vinyl with their self titled album released later that summer. The band were due to head out on a UK tour but this was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
2022 will see The Wandering Hearts back out on the road on their biggest UK tour to date. They will be headlining across the country at major venues including London's Shepherds Bush Empire with support from Wildwood Kin and Diana Demuth.
References[edit]
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